Background in Customer Service is Similar to Caregiver; It’s About Listening and Helping
Caregiving can be rewarding, meaningful work, but there are times when it can also be challenging. Some caregivers have clients who can be a little hard to manage.
Help at Home’s caregiver Martika in Columbus, GA, received praise for how she’s worked with clients even when they were difficult. She finds the key to working with people is to be an intentional listener.
“Most of my clients are like family,” she says. “They’ve been very friendly to me.” If there is someone who may be irritable, I try to understand as it often may be that the client is in physical pain, or experiencing anxiety.
“Once you spend time with them, they start opening up and tell you why they feel the way they do,” she said. “You just have to be patient and continue to be nice and friendly.”
Martika came to caregiving after having worked in customer service. When she saw a job opportunity for a Help at Home caregiver, she realized she could relate to the job description because caregiving was a lot like customer service. Both of the jobs involved listening to people and figuring out how to help them.
“I liked where the job description said “you’d be right for the job if you were a compassionate person and you liked helping people” – that’s what I like to do,” she said.
“The best part is that you just wake up feeling happy and satisfied, like you’re doing something that’s meaningful! And, that’s what I love about this is that I feel very much like this is what I am meant to do.”
“We are all going to get older and go through health problems and will need help at some point in our life,” she said. “I like being able to care for people who can’t take care of themselves. I feel like it’s a way to give back.”
